I'm moving and won't be online this weekend, so some thoughts to share.

Training camp is just over a week away. I'm tempted to try to watch a practice to wash the bad vibes away. There are serious questions to answer. How will the forward lines shake out? What are the defenseman pairings? Just how bad will Elvis be? Evason will have little time to answer those questions.

I read a piece in The Hockey Writers advocating retiring Johnny Gaudreau's #13. You guys know how I feel about that. Hopefully, Waddell will read that article and agree.

The Metro looks like the most unsettled division this year. The Canes lost several important players, the Isles seem to always be a question mark, Philly and the Pens can go either way, the Caps made several trades to stay relevant but trusting PLD to be a presence can be a mistake, the Devils may have got themselves a top two finish with Markstrom in net, the only sure thing seems to be the Rangers taking the division. With such a mess, who knows where the Jackets finish?

My early pick for the Cup is Edmonton.